glee gifts

Thursday, December 8th, Joe Andruzzi Shopping for a Cause Event

Meet Joe from 6-7pm in Mansfield  10% of sales for the entire day will be donated to the  Joe Andruzzi Foundation!!     Join us for the Holiday Happenings at Mansfield Crossing  Meet Joe from 6 to 7pm at glee, and shop for a cause!       Ann's dear Mom and Dad with the ring! Joe and Ann with the ring!

 

The craziness of running a business

My! The e-mail I sent yesterday generated alot of buzz!  Thanks everyone for your well wishes and chats!

Let me tell you,it's been a crazy few weeks lately. glee Mansfield is busy, my boys are now attending school in Worcester, living with my parents, so I've been commuting from Worcester twice a week. And, I made a decision to move the Foxboro store; a decision that was really tough.  But once I made the decision I haven't felt so "crazed". 

So you ask, where is the store moving to?

The store is moving to The Village Shops in Canton at Cobbs Corner. It will be on the Bertuccis side, a few doors up from Romanza, a funky clothing boutique. Many of you already shop at Romanza and if you haven't you have to stop by to poke around. I think we will be a great complement to one another.

Call me crazy, but the most appealing part of the move is that I will be able to ride my bike to work again since now I live only a mile away from the Village Shops.  I used to ride my bike to work when the store was downtown Mansfield. Many of you laughed as I rode by, all glossied and glittered up with sweat on my brow. I am looking forward to riding to work again, and who knows--I might even make a few new acquaintances along the way!

So, here's the plan:

glee/Mansfield is going strong. Many of you have told me that you have more "luck" finding gifts at the Foxboro store.  glee/Mansfield is now receiving new merchandise daily similar to what was carried at Foxboro store. We also have some great events to tell you about for the month of October:

• FREE Chamilia snap bracelet ($65) value with the purchase of $100 in beads the 15th and 16th. Supplies are limited so come early! Restrictions apply.
• Also on the 16th Best Buy is having their gals night out event from 7-9. There will be raffles, free goodie bags for the first 100 people and all proceeds will go to the Foxboro food pantry. This is becoming a great MUST ATTEND event for the fall season so grab your gal pals and come on down!
• The 26th from 5-7 glee Mansfield is holding a business after hours with the Chamber of Commerce from 5-7. Receive 10% of your purchase--restrictions apply. Come mingle with fellow Chamber members!

glee/Foxy has new store hours which are FRI-SAT 10-6 and SUNDAY 12-5.  The front of the store is all sale merchandise marked down 20-50% .  Come start your holiday shopping! The back of the store is full priced merchandise ready for the new store which you are welcome to peruse.  Gift wrap is limited to full price merchandise only. 

glee/Canton is slated to open by November 15th.  There's one little glitch though, I haven't signed the lease yet.  I received the lease late Friday night that still needs the ol' John Hancock.  Yes, it's crazy that I let the cat out of the bag before the signed deal is done. But I'm fairly certain that all will be well.

I joked yesterday with a couple of people that glee gifts is zigzagging it's way to the Mall of America. It's a crazy idea, and if it ever happens, it certainly will be a long commute on bike! 

gleefully yours!

Ann

Sarah's last night at work before the baby

We have a wee--wee glee on the way!

glee's beloved "Sarah's last night of work before the birth of her precious baby" was this past Saturday night.  Cathy g, Leah, Sarah and I (other glee gals were there in spirit) "sat" with Sarah on her last shift. (recognize her? she's pictured here with Sasha, her older daughter)

 

Notice the bump?  That's our new wee wee glee.

This night felt good to me.  Managing a business is crazy--there's not alot of time to just "sit".  During this time we shared birthing stories with one another, hair color stories, kids, getting in shape etc.  No talk of work.  Even though we were at work.

I loved it.  The store was slow and those that did come in shared their stories too and a touch of wine.  All because it was "Sarah's last night at work before the baby".

Sarah--here's to you dear--I can't wait for the "Sarah's first night after having the baby"! story!  I think I speak for all of us,,,,,we can't wait to introduce bump to the world of glee!

 

Why Give a Gift? Part Two

Gift giving has long been a favorite subject for studies on human behavior with psychologists, anthropologists, economists and marketers all weighing in. They have found that giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends. Indeed, psychologists say it is often the giver, rather than the recipient, who reaps the biggest psychological gains from a gift. Frustrated by crowds, traffic and commercialism, people can be tempted during the Christmas season to opt out of gift giving altogether. A 2005 survey showed that four out of five Americans think the holidays are too materialistic, according to the Center for a New American Dream, which promotes responsible consumption.

But while it’s reasonable to cut back on spending during the holidays, psychologists say that banning the gift exchange with loved ones is not the best solution. People who refuse to accept or exchange gifts during the holidays, these experts say, may be missing out on an important connection with family and friends.

“That doesn’t do a service to the relationship,” said Ellen J. Langer, a Harvard psychology a professor. “If I don’t let you give me a gift, then I’m not encouraging you to think about me and think about things I like. I am preventing you from experiencing the joy of engaging in all those activities. You do people a disservice by not giving them the gift of giving.”

Some researchers believe evolutionary forces may have favored gift giving. Men who were the most generous may have had the most reproductive success with women. (Notably, the use of food in exchange for sexual access and grooming has been documented in our closest ape relative, the chimpanzee.) Women who were skilled at giving — be it extra food or a well-fitted pelt — helped sustain the family provider as well as her children.

Margaret Rucker, a consumer psychologist at the University of California, Davis, says men are typically more price-conscious and practical when it comes to the gifts they give and get, while women tend to be more concerned about giving and receiving gifts with emotional significance.

Gender differences in gift giving seem to emerge early in life. Researchers at Loyola University Chicago studied 3- and 4-year-olds at a day-care center, all of whom had attended the same birthday party. The girls typically went shopping with their mothers and helped select and wrap the gift. Boys, meanwhile, were often unaware of what the gift was. “They’d say, ‘I took a nap while my mom went shopping for it,’” said Mary Ann McGrath, the associate dean of the graduate school of business at Loyola.

Gift giving is often the most obvious way a partner can show interest, strengthen a bond or even signal that a relationship should end. One colleague of Dr. Rucker’s noted that she knew her marriage was over when her husband handed her a gift in a brown grocery bag.

People who stop giving gifts lose out on important social cues, researchers say. “Who is on your gift list is telling you who is important in your life,” Dr. McGrath said. “It says who is more important and who is less important.”

But the biggest effect of gift giving may be on ourselves. Giving to others reinforces our feelings for them and makes us feel effective and caring, Dr. Langer said.

Test your gift-giving Etiguette:

Take a Quiz!

Sources  TARA PARKER-POPE

Published: December 11, 2007

History of Gift Giving--Part One

Since I own a gift store, I have become intrigued on why I own a gift store.  It's hard work, finding the right products, pricing, merchandising and staying "gleeful" even on a down day.  So I have become curious about my own personal reasons for owning a gift store, over all other types of businesses I could own. I begin by doing research on the history of gift giving, and here's what I learned:

Since the dawn of time people have been giving gifts. People in early civilizations gave gifts to their tribal leaders and each other to show loyalty and love. They used bark and wood from the trees, and reeds to fashion unique objects as gifts. Gift giving has always been reciprocal, except for the heads of state in various cultures. People received gifts to procure favors and to demonstrate allegiance,and if you think about it, this practice is still in place today. 

Gift giving might have helped early humans survive, and in this way became an ingrained part of our psychology as we have become more civilized. Early women who were the most giving with their resources, be it food, animal pelts, or whatever, had a better chance of sustaining their young and helping their family thrive. Men who weren’t afraid to share their resources were better at attracting a partner and passing on their genes. For early humans, gift giving might have had this hidden self-interested aspect, which led to it becoming a widespread human trait.

Current research keeps pointing to gift giving as a very important way to strengthen social bonds and to improve psychological well-being. It turns out that the old saying “It’s better to give than to receive,” is right, at least on a psychological level. Gift giving lets the giver get into the recipient’s head for a little while, and see what is important to them. It’s crucial for validating social bonds and the importance of certain relationships.

Gift giving is probably playing an important role in your social life, even if you don’t know it; psychologists liken the act of making a gift list and buying presents to arraying the people and relationships in your life by order of importance. Giving gifts makes you evaluate those bonds, and decide which are worth strengthening and which are not.  Funny, during the holidays I see many people with lists!  

Are you a "lister"?  Who's always at the top of your list?  Are they the most important person in your life, or the hardest person to buy a present for? 

Stay tuned for Part Two: The Art of Buying a Gift

Source:

A Gift that Gives Right Back? The Giving Itself. (2007) Tara Parker-Pope. The New York Times.